The goal is to have no waste and limited clean up at the end, yet have your foody-friends talk about your foods? Here are some ideas for what I consider unique dishes and will add more as I think of them.
Party Foods
BLT in Tomatoes: Get largest cherry tomatoes, cut off top and scoop out the insides, then place upside-down to drain while you mix the filling. In bowl mix crumbles bacon, some Japanese or European mayo, shredded lettuce and salt or pepper to taste. Now put the stuffing in the tomatoes with a little topping of toasted panko (comes in gluten free or not) for crunch. (If needs be, use Roma tomatoes cut in half.)
Cheese Cigars: Using phyllo dough, wrap up a prepared cheese mixture and cut the item into cigar shapes. Mixture is cheese like feta, mozzarella and pecorino. along with dill, parsley, lemon zest, garlic chives, salt and pepper to taste, and an egg to keep it all together. Bake and eat.
Coconut Shells: Great to use for a dessert using the coconut in it. Say an ice cream dish with a toasted coconut topping.
Endive Wrapped Salads: Make a chicken or tuna fish salads and place in small endive leaves.
Fruit salad in Apple: Cut the top off of a large apple, scoop out most of the insides using a melon scooper, and add round apple flesh to a bowl. Using a spoon carefully carve out the bowl shape. Then add pineapple, strawberries and blueberries to the bowl with the apple rounds. Use this mixed fruit to fill the apple bowls. Squeeze some lemon juice over the fruit, top with a dollop of whip cream or yogurt and some berries and a small mint leaf.
Fruit + Cheese Kabobs: Add bite sized fruit and cheese squares to wooden spears for a quick, colorful, and easily hand-held treat.
Greek Filled Zucchini: Cut Zucchinis so they are ~2in tall, scoop out most of the flesh but leave enough so there is a well and it does not loose its shape. In a bowl mix herbed goat or feta cheese, herbs (dill, oregano, thyme, basil) chopped sun dried tomatoes, and sliced pitted kalamata olives. Fill the zucchini and place in oven to slightly melt and crisp up.
Orange Jello: Cut an orange in half, remove the insides (add to a fruit dish) and fill both empty sides with orange jello. (You can add some of the orange back in if you want.) Put in fridge and once firm slice in half so you can serve four slices as desert.
Portobello Pizza: Remove the stem and coop out the gills of large portobello mushrooms and fill with pizza sauce, mozzarella, basil, and pepperoni.
Pumpkin Pie in Pumpkin: Make a pumpkin pie but serve in the pumpkin skins. Be sure to get small pumpkins so they each are a serving, and top with nice whipped cream.
Thai Lettuce Wraps: Butter lettuce leaves filled with a thai shrimp mixture. Add small shrimp to a bowl, shredded orange and purple carrots, diced cucumbers, small chopped cabbage, chopped cilantro, lime zest and juice, good olive oil, minced deveined jalapeno, fresh zested ginger, salt and pepper to taste. I would have a hot-sweet peanut sauce and a sweet chili sauce nearby to add a bit of extra taste to the wrap.
Thai pineapple rice: Serve this stir fry rice in the pineapple. Mix into the rice grated carrots, peas, currents, pineapple chunks, unsalted roasted cashews, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, chillies, shallots, garlic, and cooked rice.
Tostada salad: Serve this is a crispy cheese filled tortilla boat.
Zucchini Boats: Slice a zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the middle. Then place food in the well. It could be pizza-like (tomato sauce, cheese, tomato, peperoni) or greek (feta, onion, tomato, olives, drizzle with olive oil), etc.